Belize and Guatemalan defence ministers meet

Meeting today in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, were the top military leaders of Belize and Guatemala. Hosting the one-day talks was Minister of Defence George Price who welcomed his Guatemalan counterpart, Brigadier General Alvaro Mendez Estrada. The meeting, held under the framework of the O.A.S. facilitation process, focussed on confidence building measures and the co-ordination of military forces with the two-kilometre wide adjacency zone along the border. Those forces are involved in joint patrols in order to avoid any accidental confrontations and also to prevent drug and arms trafficking, smuggling, illegal logging and immigration violations. Accompanying Mendez was Guatemala’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador to Belize, and other military officials. On the Belize side, Price was backed up by his C.E.O., Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala, the B.D.F. Commandant and other officials of the military and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As for the bigger picture involving the solution of the century-and-a-half old Guatemalan claim to Belize, the facilitators, Sir Shridath Ramphal and Paul Reichler, are reportedly still working out the details of a way forward that will be acceptable to both countries.